UAlbany, Hartford tied for third spot in tournament

Published 11:35 pm, Friday, February 15, 2013

ALBANY — Three weeks from Saturday, the America East Tournament will be played at SEFCU Arena. It looks as though the top two seeds will be Stony Brook and Vermont, which played each other Friday night.

After that, it's a jumble puzzle as to which team will finish where. At least it is for two teams.

The University at Albany and Hartford are tied for third place with 7-5 conference records and those two teams play each other Saturday night at SEFCU. The Danes and Hawks are actually in fourth place, but Boston University, currently holding the third spot, is not eligible for the conference tournament.

That's because the Terriers are leaving America East for the Patriot League, and their punishment is not being able to play in any postseason America East tournaments.

Hartford and the Danes have four regular-season games left.

"We try not to talk about it," UAlbany senior guard Mike Black said about jockeying for postseason position. "It's in the back of our minds, so (Saturday) is a big game."

UAlbany coach Will Brown has not called any game a big game all season long and he wasn't about to start now.

"We don't want to put pressure on guys, saying this is a big game, that is a big game," Brown said. "Every game is important. We just have to find a way to win a game. Everything else doesn't matter."

The Danes beat Hartford 56-46 in an ugly game in Connecticut on Jan. 19. Since then, the Hawks have won four of six, including home wins over Boston University and Stony Brook.

The Hawks have been starting five sophomores, including 6-foot-6 Mark Nwakamma, who is averaging 15.4 points per game. In his past five games, he is averaging 19.2 points.

"When you have a young team, here is the thing," Hartford coach John Gallagher said. "Are we playing better? Are we getting better? Absolutely. I told the team I like the way we are going because I know where we came from."

Hartford lost 21 games last year and was 7-9 in the league.

Gallagher, like Brown, is not going to rev his team up by telling them Saturday's game is a big one.

"I don't look at it that way," he said. "Right now, we are 14-11 (overall) and we are probably a year ahead of schedule. We are playing all sophomores and our juniors and seniors get limited minutes. Do we think we have a healthy program? Sure. But we had to go through some painful times a year ago. We are a tougher team now than we were a month ago."

Gallagher said the Danes beat Hartford in the first matchup because UAlbany was a tougher team.

Both teams are coming off road losses at Maine, which is right behind these two teams with a 5-7 America East record. The Danes got whipped 66-52 in Orono last Saturday and Hartford dropped a 66-64 decision there on Wednesday.

This will be UAlbany's first game since Maine.

"There is nothing worse in college basketball than having a week off after a loss," UAlbany sophomore Sam Rowley said.

The Danes should be a lot more healthy for this game than they were at Maine.

Black, who played at Maine but was hobbling with a right ankle sprain, said he is 100 percent for this game. Backcourt mate Jacob Iati has had a week to get some rest for his ailing Achilles tendon problems in both legs.